A wireless communication system normally spans its coverage over a wide geographical area. A controller of the communication system maintains an efficient cornmunication system operation by utilizing propagation loss characteristics of the coverage area to calculate a transmitted power level of various transmitters in the coverage area. In addition, propagation loss characteristics are used for initial system layout, system modifications, system rearrangements, site specific parameter adjustments, and adding or eliminating system base station sites. The propagation loss characteristic is affected by terrain of the coverage area. The terrain is very often comprised of different categories of terrain irregularities, and some these irregularities change over time. The terrain irregularities normally are in the form of man-made objects such as buildings, bridges, towers, roads and cars, and natural objects, such as hills, mountains, and trees.
Terrain irregularities have often been given names, such as clutter, and elevation irregularities. Such irregularities are stored in one or more data profiles. The clutter profile generally includes data about objects on the earth's surface such as homes, buildings, trees, and agricultural crops. The United States Geological Survey has categorized the clutter information in many categories and sub-categories. The clutter profile of the coverage area changes more often than the elevation profile. Clutter profile changes very often because man and nature effect the clutter characteristic much easier in a short period of time than the elevation characteristic. When the characterization of the propagation environment is based on an outdated clutter profile, the results are adversely affected. For example, inaccurate signal propagation characterization causes the wireless communication system to operate in a less efficient capacity, resulting in a less optimal system layout design.
Since clutter profiles are expensive, and gathered by time-consuming aerial and land surveys of the coverage area, an up-to-date clutter profile often is unavailable. As such, there is a need for a method of efficiently characterizing a propagation environment without reliance on up-to-date clutter information, and creating a data base therefor.